Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that includes an operation unit equipped with a display device, a method for controlling the information processing apparatus, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
A recent image processing apparatus having a scan function and a print function is generally equipped with a touch panel, in addition to hardware keys (e.g., numeric keys), as an operation unit configured to receive a user operation. The numeric keys include numeric keys from 0 to 9 and symbol keys, such as * and #.
Hereinafter, an example of processing that is performed by a main body controller 100 and an operation unit 150 in such an image processing apparatus will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 9. In a case where a user operates hardware numeric keys 901 or a touch panel 152, input information is transmitted to an operation unit central processing unit (CPU) 151. The operation unit CPU 151 acquires necessary information based on the input information transmitted from the hardware numeric keys 901 or the touch panel 152. Then, the operation unit CPU 151 transmits the acquired information to a main body CPU 101. For example, in a case where the user presses any one of the hardware numeric keys 901 (e.g., a key having the number 3), character information corresponding to the pressed key is transmitted to the main body CPU 101. Further, in a case where the user performs a touch operation on the touch panel 152, coordinate information representing a touched position is transmitted to the main body CPU 101.
The main body CPU 101 identifies a screen to be displayed by a display device 153 based on the information transmitted from the operation unit CPU 151, and generates graphic data 902 corresponding to the identified screen and transmits the generated data to the display device 153. The main body controller 100 stores, beforehand, various types of information (including texts and images) that is necessary to generate graphic data corresponding to each of a plurality of screens to be displayed on the display device 153. The main body CPU 101 generates necessary graphic data based on the above-mentioned information. The display device 153 displays a screen based on the transmitted graphic data 902. Through the above-mentioned processing, an intended screen can be displayed on the display device 153 according to a user operation via the hardware numeric keys 901 or the touch panel 152.
On the other hand, eliminating the hardware keys is desirable to realize cost reduction based on downsizing of the operation unit and improve the design of an image processing apparatus. To this end, enabling a user to perform every input operation with the touch panel is essentially required.
In this case, the image processing apparatus can be configured to display software keys, as a substitute for the numeric keys provided as hardware keys, on the display device to receive an input from a user via the touch panel.
However, to cause the display device to display the software keys, the main body CPU is required to generate graphic data appropriately changed. To this end, it is necessary to change or modify the configuration of the main body controller. The costs will increase greatly.